MIDTERM AND STUFF

BEING NEW TO RECURSION THIS YEAR, IT HAS PROVED CHALLENGING TO UNDERSTAND. I MEAN THE BASIC EXAMPLES ARE THERE, BUT UNDERSTANDING THOSE IS ONLY HELPFUL IF YOU TRULY UNDERSTAND THE ENTIRE CONCEPT. THIS IS SIMILAR TO MOST THINGS. FOR WHEN IT IS BROUGHT UP IN SLIGHTLY MORE COMPLICATED EXAMPLES, IT CAN GET CONFSUING. AND THIS IS WHAT I FOUND ON THE MIDTERM. I KNEW HOW TO SET IT UP, BUT THIS WAS WHAT SEEEMED MERELY BY REPETITION BUT NOT TRUE UNDERSTANDING. IT IS AN AREA I WILL BE WORKING TO IMPROVE BECAUSE IT SEEMS LIKE ON OF THE BASIC TOOLS FOR PROGRAMMING. THIS WEEK WE HAVE JUST BEEN TALKING ABOUT RE-IMPLEMENTING CLASSES WITHOUT CHANGING ANYTHING, IT SEEMS SIMPLE ENOUGH AND COULD BE HANDY WHEN UPDATING ALREADY EXISTING CODE.

PRE-MIDTERM

RECENTLY WE HAVE BEEN INTRODUCED TO BIG-O NOTATION. THIS CAN BE A DAUNTING TASK; TO DETERMINE HOW EFFICIENT AN ALGORITHM IS. TO BE ABLE TO LOOK AT SOME CODE FOR A SORTING ALGORITHM CAN PROVE CHALLENGING, AS LOOKING AT WHAT PIECES OF CODE CAN EFFECT THE EFFICENCY IS DIFFICULT. A WAY TO HELP YOU DETERMINE, IS TO LOOK AT THE EXTREME CASES. BASICALLY IN THE CASE WHERE THE LIST YOU ARE SORTING IS VERY SHORT TO GET A FEEL FOR WHAT IT DOES, THEN FOR A LIST THAT IS EXTREMELY LONG, TO SEE HOW IT ACTUALLY SCALES WITH TIME. IT IS IMPORTANT TO REMEBER THAT THE SMALLER LIST, MAY PROVE EASIER TO SORT WITH ALGORITHMS THAT ARE MORE INEFFICIENT FOR LARGER LISTS.

ANOTHER INTERESTING THING I DID, WAS THE WEEK 8, LAB. JUST THE WAY THE RECURSION WAS USED TO PARSE THROUGH THE TREE IN A PREORDER WAY WAS A NEW WAY, AND A LITTLE CONFUSING. TO CREATE VARIABLES IN A TUPLE WITH A HEAD AND TAIL THAT REPRESENT THE PARSING OF THE LEFT TREE AND, SEPARATE, THE RIGHT TREE,  THEN CONNECTING THEM TOGETHER AT THE ROOT. THE BASE CASES WERE ALSO A LITLE DIFFERENT, IT HAD TO ACCOUNT FOR VARIOUS LEVELS OF EMPTY ROOTS ON EACH SIDE, ALSO RESULTED IN THE ANSWERS BEING NON SYMMETRIC. IT ALSO HELPS TO NOTE THAT THE CODE CAN BE EASILY ADJUSTED FOR INORDER AND POSTORDER PARSING. 

WITH THE MIDTERM COMING UP BIG-O NOTATION AND RECURSING THROUGH THE TREES WILL PROVE TO BE THE MOST CHALLENGING. BIG-O NOTATION BECAUSE IT IS NEW AND THE RECURSION BECAUSE I GENERALLY HAVE PROBLEMS DETERMINING THE BASE CASES, AS I STILL HAVE YET TO FULLY COMPREHEND THE MAGIC THAT IS RECURSION AND TEND TO CREATE OVERLY COMPLICATED BASE CASES, OR COMPLETELY FORGET TO DEAL WITH VARIOUS INSTANCES THAT COME UP IN CERTAIN, BUT NOT ALL INSTANCES.